Pulse discriminatory circuit



Jan. 12, 1954 'l BARTON 2,666,135

PULSE DISCRIMINATORY CIRCUIT Filed May 28. 1948 INVENTOR Patented Jan. 12, 1954 PULSE DISCRIMINATORY CIRCUIT Loy E. Barton, Princeton, N. J.,

Corporation of America,

Ware

assignor to Radio a corporation of Dela- Application May 28, 1948, Serial N0. 29,776

4 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for eecting electronic pulse width discrimination and particularly to discriminating circuits which provide separation of electrical synchronizing pulses in accordance with their time durations.

It is often found necessary in the design of many types of present day electronic equipment to provide some means for discriminating between electrical pulses having predetermined. time widths. Particularly is this true, for eX- ple, in teleran, shorean, radar, and television, in which a number of different operational functions are assigned to signal pulses having respectively different time durations. The system most commonly employed for vertical frame and horizontal line synchronizing pulse discrimination in commercial type television reception circuits usually includes two signal channels for respective amplification of the vertical and horizontal synchronizing information. These two channels are provided with common input circuits, with an integrating circuit placed in cascade with the longer or vertical frame synchronizing pulse amplier and a dierentiating circuit in cascade with the shorter or horizontal line synchronizing pulse amplifier'. With such a system the contour of the longer pulse Width is necessarily distorted due to the storage action of the integrating circuit while any noise disturbances that might be present in the composite synchronizing signal necessarily nnd easy passage through the differentiating circuit. Vertical synchronizing pulse distortion resulting from integration tends to produce a sloping front edge on the sync pulse which in turn reduces the timing precision of the vertical sweep circuits. The appearance of noise signals in the output of the horizontal pulse amplier, unless other precautions are taken, will provide erroneous synchronizing information for the television receiver horizontal line deflection signal generator and thereby create undesirable tearing or distortion of the reproduced television image.

Therefore, in the above referenced fields of communications, as Well as in other electronic systems, a pulse width discriminating device which provides effective passage of steep wave front pulses having a time duration in excess of a predetermined period while discriminating against or preventing passage of pulses having duration times less than this predetermined period is of considerable value. A number of approaches have been made toward the design of such devices, but in most cases the circuit complexity and comparative cost of arrangements found satisfactorily operative have discouraged their use in the manufacture of competitive electronic equipment where their inclusion would indeed oifer material improvements in equipment performance.

According to the operation of the present invention the separation of electrical pulses having diierent time durations is made possible with relative simplicity and low cost through the use of a single pentode vacuum tube connected for operation as a regenerative negative transconductance amplifier whose threshold of regeneration is reached by the integration of a pulse having at least a predetermined time duration but is not attained by pulses having less than this predetermined time duration.

It is therefore a purpose of this invention to provide economical means for pulse width discrimination which permits passage of only those electrical pulses having a time duration in excess of a predetermined time interval.

It is another object of this invention to provide an economical system of pulse width discrimination wherein an output pulse is derived from the system in response to signal input pulses having e time duration in excess of a predetermined time interval, said system being adapted to permit the adjustment of the duration of the output pulse so produced.

It is further a purpose of this invention to provide a form of single vacuum tube pulse amplifer which has pulse width discriminatory characteristics such that only those input pulses having a time duration in excess of a predetermined value will cause an output signal to be developed by the amplifier stage.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as reference is made to the specication taken in connection with the associated drawings. In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of the present invention; :and

Figure 2 is a representation of signal waveform contours encountered in the operation of the embodiment shown in Figure 1.

Referring now to Figure l a vacuum tube lil of the pentode variety is shown connected as a negative trans-conductance amplier. The control grid l2 is externally connected to the cathode lli, while screen grid I6 is supplied with a positive potential through load resistor I3 from power supply source terminal 20. Any signal appearing on screen grid I6 is also applied in part to the suppressor grid 22 by means of coupling condenser 24. The plate electrode 26 of the vacuum tube l is polarized by direct connection to the potential source 2d. The suppressor grid 22 is shown to be supplied with a variable negative bias voltage through resistors 28 and Sil, resistor Sil being connected to the center tap 32 of potentiometer which is in turn connected across a bias voltage supply to ground. From the suppressor grid 22 toI ground is placed storage condenser 33 across which, as will be later seen, appears an integrated version of the signal applied to the input circuit by means of coupling condenser lill.

ln the operation of the applicants invention, as illustrated in Figure l, it can beappreciated that ii the voltage applied is sufliciently negative, a condition of plate current cutoff will obtain in thevacuumtube. It; Under such conditions all the electrons emitted from the cathode electrode ii will be available to constitute screen current through screen load resistor i3. However, should theV suppressor voltage 22 be permitted to increasesuiciently positive to permit plate current lowf some electrons otherwise going to the screen grid. it' will now` be attracted by the plate 2li and thereby tendY to reduce the electrode current oigscreen grid It. Since a decrease in screen4 current through resistor is' results in an increase in screen potential which in turn is oocasionedby an increase in suppressor gridV voltage, it is. apparentv that with the arrangement shown, any signal appearing across the screen load resistor i3 will necessarily be in phase with the'signal applied to the suppressor grid 22. This action follows according to well known principles o'negative'conductance amplifier action, described in full, detailin the publication Radio Engineers Handbook, by

Termen (pp. 31u-319'), nrst edition. Electron tubes oi the transitron or negative transconductance variety may be used in this type of ampliner. With a @A56 pentode an overallv amplification oi 4 may be realized from suppressor grid to screen. It will be noticed that somer of the screen output signal is adapted to be capaci.- tively4 coupled through condenser 24' to the suppresser grid Z. Hence, whenever plate current' is permitted to now the circuit will act asa form of transitron oscillator since. under conditions or plate current the output signal appearing on screen l which is in partcoupled. back t'o the suppressor grid 22 by condenser Zit is in phase with the input signal applied to suppressor grid 22'. Under these regenerative conditions the Y screen current will quicklyy establish itself at a minimum corresponding to a plate current maximum.

For'pulse width discriminatory action thesuppresser grid 22 bias voltage is adjusted nega@- tively in excess of that Vvalue required for; no` signal static plate current -cutoil which-permitsa maximum iloW of screen current. A study of Figure l reveals that the resistor 28 in combination with capacitor ''presents asimple form of integrating circuit which acts upon any input signal, Let it be 'presumedv that a seriesof pulses such as .lt, llt, and E@ are applied-to. the input terminals 52 and of the ampliier under the above conditions of static plate current cutoi due to suppressor gid bias. Although the exact form of conventional television sync sig,N nais is not shown in the drawing, for the sake: oi convenience let it be supposed that the narrower pulses d2, ttl, 43, and t have each aY twomicrosecond duration and aresuitable for use as horizontal synchronizing pulses, and that the to suppressor grid 22S l i longer pulse it has a time duration of approximately 10 microseconds and is suitable for use as vertical synchronizing signals. Such a sync signal wave form is not according to the standards set by the Radio Manufacturers Associa tion for commercial television transmission but may be used for television and related purposes where adherence to the standards signal is not necessary. If the integrating circuit time constant comprising resistor 23 and condenser 33 is-properly selected, the influence o the shorter two microsecond signals such as l2 and fl will not produce suiiicient positive voltage rise across capacitor 3d to permit plate current conduction in the vacuum tube it, but i!) microsecond pulses will suiilciently charge capacitor 3S and increase the. suppressor grid voltage to a Value great enough to establish plate current conduction and thereby initiate the cumulative regenerative action of the amplier stage producing a steep drop in screen current through resistor i8 with the attendant rapid increase or screen potential; As soon as the applied pulse t6 is terminated: theA voltagey onV the suppressor grid 22 willV drop suiiiciently to cause some decrease in plate current which produces a corresponding decrease.V in` screen potential. Accordingly, this drop in screen potential induces regenerative action throughV condenser Zd to rapidly drop the suppressor grid voltage until plate current is out ofi at which valueV they circuit is quiescent until the application of the next pulse of suicient duration'. Through the proper selection of the time constant integrating circuit and the selection oi the applied suppressor grid static potential at a level appropriately below plate current cutoff ofY the vacuum tube it', the above conguration may be made to manifestly ignore pulse-'lengths of' lessi than 3 microsecondswhileeiectively passing all pulse lengthsv in excess of 3 microseconds thereby discriminating against the two microsecondhorizonal pulsesl2, dil, fic,- and: 5t. while ostensivelyl passing the longer duration lfmicrosecond pulse. Thereiorethe signalV appearing at output terminals 56 and 5t will contain pulse signals due onlyv tothe influence of the longer duration pulses.y

Reference to Figure 2 illustrates more clearly the typical waveforms encountered inthe op-A eration of the discriminator asV shown in Figure l. Figure 2c corresponds to the input'signal as applied to the pulsev discriminator amplifier and; Figure-2b shows properly orientated in timewith respect to the input signal the derived output. signal from the pulse discriminating circuitY out'- put terminals 5t. and 55. As can be seen in Figure 2 the genesis oi the output pulse ii pro-- duced by the, inputY pulse t is slightly delayed with respect to the latter by the time AB andv consequently suffers areduction in pulse duration as compared to pulse` cit. by this amount. The width of. the output pulse BC foragiven width of input. pulseA A. C. may be controlled within limits by the static bias applied to the suppressor grid 22. This aotionlogicallyfollows, since the more negative thev suppressor' grid potential: the longer time it will take for an applied input pulse. of a givenl duration (assuming. constancy oi n;- put amplitude) to eiect suiilcientrise in poten.- tial across storage capacitor-38 othe integrating; network-to initiate plate current now in. thezvacu.` um tubev iii.. Since the initiation of plate current establishes the leading edge (B)v ot. the output pulse, the potentiometer 34 thus actsV not.` only as a width control of the outputpulsebut: alsoas a form of delay control. It is apparent thatthe it delay time AB is also equivalent to the minimum duration oi an applied input pulse to which the circuit will respond and hence potentiometer lll eiiers control over this aspect of the system operation. Oi course, the time constant of the ntegrating network as well as any system change which would affect the value of suppressor grid potential. necessary for plate current cutoii Will necessarily provide corresponding control over the delay and minimum response time of the cirn cuit. Although it is not intended that this invention be limited thereto, the following circuit constants for Figure 1 are given by Way of example:

09 .01 microfarad 3300 ohms .03 micromicrofarads 90 100.000 ohms 34 1000 ohms 35 12 volts 8 micromicrofarads it? 15,000 ohms Tube l0 commercial type GASG Such a circuit arranffement will be found to provide adeouate pulse discrimination for differentiating against pulse widths of 2 microseconds over that of 10 microseconds as before described. By the proper choice of an integrating circuit imc constant. suppressor grid bias and degree of feedback, it is possible to design a single stage discriminating circuit having the same conguration as Figure 1 to effectively pass all pulses wider than about two microseconds and to provide rejection of pulses narrower than about one one-half microseconds.

What is claimed is:

1. In an electric wave discriminatory system the combination of electronic discharge tube having cathode, a control grid, a screen grid, a suppresser grid, and a plate electrode, circuit connections adapting said discharge tube for operation as a negative transconductance amplifier having an input circuit associated with said suppresser grid, and an output circuit associated with said screen grid, means connecting said output circuit in regenerative relationship with said input circuit, means for applying a control potential to said suppressor grid for conditionallyT inactivating said regenerative amplifier circuit, and an electrical integrating circuit intercollated in said input circuit, said integrating circuit being adapted to respond to a series of electric wave signals whereby said amplier circuit is rendered regeneratively active by only those wave signals imparting to said integrating circuit an amount of integratable energy in excess of a predetermined magnitude.

2. In an electric wave discriminatory system the combination of an electronic discharge tube having a first grid and a second grid, circuit connections adapting said discharge tube for op eration as a negative transconductance amplifier having an input circuit associated with said first grid and an output circuit associated with said second grid, an electrical impedance connecting output circuit in regenerative relationship to said CJI input circuit, a source of unidirectional potential,

an electrically conductive circuit path applying a portion of said unidirectional potential to said rst grid for conditionally inactivating said regenerative amplier circuit by biasing said tube to electron current cuton, and an electrical integrating circuit coupled with said nrst grid, said integrating circuit being adapted to respond to a series of electric wave signals exhibiting a variety of electric wave periods whereby said ampliner circuit is rendered regeneratively active by only those wave wave signals having suincient time duration to impart to said integrating circuit a predetermined output voltage sufficient to overcome the electron current cutoff bias on said dscharge tube.

3. In an electrical wave discriminatory system, a combination of a vacuum tube negative transconductance type amplifier having an input circuit and an output circuit, means connecting said output circuit in regenerative relationship with said input circuit, a source of unidirectional ccn trol potential, an electrical connection adapting said control potential to statically inactivate said amplifier circuit, an electrical integrating circuit adapted to produce an output voltage having a magnitude which is a function of the wave periods of the electrical signals applied to the same, and means connecting the output voltage of said integrating circuit in algebraically additive relationship with said unidirectional control potential, whereby regenerative electrical signals are produced in said output circuit by only those appli-ed input wave signals having electrical periods in excess or a predetermined value.

4. An electrical system selectively responsive to electric wave signals exhibiting various wave periods, said system comprising an electronic discharge tube having a cathode, a control electrode, a screen grid electrode, a suppressor grid electrode, and a plate electrode, a source of ground referenced unidirectional potential of positive polarity, a source of ground referenced unidirectional potential of negative polarity, an electrical path connecting said plate electrode to said positive polarity, an electrical impedance connecting said screen electrode to said positive polarity, an electrical impedance connected between said suppressor grid electrode and an input terminal, a capacitance connected between said suppressor electrode and ground potential, circuit connecn tions applying said source of negative unidirectional potential to said suppressor grid electrode, means connecting said screen grid electrode with said suppressor grid electrode whereby electrical wave signals are generated at said screen electrode by only those wave signals applied to said input terminals having electrical periods in eX- cess of predetermined value.

LOE?l E. BARTON.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,975,143 Farnsworth Oct. 2, 1934 l2,222,172 Dimmick Nov. 19, 1940 2,251,973 Beale et al Aug. 12, 1941 2,281,934 Geiger May 5, 1942 2,295,364 Jones Sept. 8, 1942 2,359,447 Seeley Oct. 3, 1944 2,389,004 Schroeder Nov. 13, 1945 2,405,843 Moe Aug. 13, 1946 2,431,037 Grundmann Nov. 18, 1947 2,435,579 Francis Feb. 10, 1948 2,496,909 Eberhard Feb. 7, 1950 

